tar sands case study

Question 1

Environmental impacts of Tar Sands

Answer 1

Climate change: long term global

Evidence: Tar sands development is extremely carbon intensive

• • releases x3 the CO2 emissions of conventional oil production
• single largest industrial contributor in North America to climate change

Explanation: the emissions from these processes and vehicles used contribute to the greenhouse gases that are melting the glacier

• very severe due to global implications

Question 2

Loss of forest and wildlife habitats of Tar sands

Answer 2

• long term , local:
• deforestation contributes to climate change and destroys current habitats
• cause of the 2nd fastest rate of deforestation on the planet
• Canadas Boreal forest represents 25% of the worlds intact forests
• provides 1.3 billion acres of wild habitats for a vast array of species including wolves and plant varieties

Planned tar sand development projects expected to see 5,000 km^2 of forests cleared, drained and stripped for open-pit mining.

Of the 210,000 acres mined since 1960s, only 1% have been successfully reclaimed (chemicals in the tailings make reclamation difficult)

Question 3

Water abstraction and pollution of Tar Sands

Answer 3

• local, short term:
• will impact fish that causes depleted stock causes issues for those who fish
• approved projects will see 3 million barrels of tar sands produced daily by 2018. Operations are permitted to withdraw 350 million m3 per year equivalent to the amount used by a city of 2 million
• initially it was though that there was enough of the river to meet the demands of tar sands but its coming clear it isn’t especially in winter when resources are depleted
• liquid tailings contain trace metals making the river toxic
  (6 barrels of tailings per barrel of bitumen extracted)
• poses threats to the Athabasca River

Operations from a distance from rivers rely on groundwater aquifers, which lowers water table in the region and threatens surface freshwater.

Question 4

Impact of humans on Tar Sands

Answer 4

• local - short term
• lots of social issues within Alberta such as housing problems
• water abstractions and pollution jeopardises commercial fishing used by local aboriginals such as Cree Indians
• there’s a vast expansion of temporary foreign worker programmes that exploit so called non citizens and those who work there are without jobs

Question 5

Cumulative impacts and reclamation on tar sands

Answer 5

• long term
• very little of the area directly affected by mining operations has been reclaimed and tailing ponds are expected to cover even more areas over the next 20 years
• UNEP identified Alberta tar sands mines as one of the 100 global hotspots of environmental degradation
• development of Tar Sands presents staggering challenges for forest conservation and reclamation yet they continue to be approved

Question 6

Oil spills and pipeline distribution networks impacts on Tar Sands

Answer 6

• destroys land
• contaminated water through polluted water
• since 2010 there’s been 63,600 barrels of hazardous liquid in the rivers

Question 7

Pollution from CO2 emissions of trains transporting oil on Tar Sands

Answer 7

• impacts increases the risks of climate change

Question 8

Describe the location of the Athabasca oil sands

Answer 8

In Canada, in three major deposits in the province of northern Alberta. It’s found within Alberta’s boreal forests, north of Edmonton.

Question 9

What is being extracted?

Answer 9

Bitumen found in tar sands (oil sands)
As the conventional sources of crude oil are depleted

Question 10

What is meant by ‘unconventional sources of oil’?

Answer 10

Crude oil that is not produced by traditional extraction methods.

Question 11

Assess the spatial scale of the oil sands exploitation

Answer 11

The exploitation only occurs in the Fort McMurray Athabasca deposit

The spatial scale of the oil sands exploitation is relatively small compared to the entire oil sand deposits

only 0.54% of the deposits.

Question 12

what are liquid tailings

Answer 12

mix of water, sand, clay and unrecovered bitumen:

Also contains naphthenic acids and trace metals
toxic to aquatic organisms and mammals.

chemicals in the tailings make reclamation difficult)

Question 13

Disadvantages of ‘in situ’ extraction

Answer 13

In situ extraction requires the water from the Athabasca River to be abstracted to extract bitumen and for separating bitumen gathered from the open pit mining.

Greater greenhouse gas emissions: steam is produced by burning natural gas

Question 14

What are the distribution networks associated with the Athabasca Tar Sands?

Answer 14

Most of the oil is exported to the US where it provides around 7% of its daily consumption.

There’s 20 mine projects in operation, owned and operated by a number of different partner companies, including many large transnational oil corporations (e.g. Chevron-Texaco, shell)

Canadian pipeline- Enbridge

Question 15

environmental impacts of these distribution networks

Answer 15

2012, Canadian pipeline- Enbridge, suffered a leak on its Athabasca pipeline that carries 350,000 barrels of crude.

1,400 barrels of oil escaped into a rural area

2010, Enbridge line leaked 20,000 barrels into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River ($700 million cost)